Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope that you are all keeping your spirits up as best you can during this time.

      Loving Creator,

      We asked for strength, and you gave us difficulties to make us strong.

      We asked for wisdom, and you gave us problems to solve.

      We asked for prosperity, and you gave us purpose and brains to use.

      We asked for courage, and you gave us fears to overcome.

      We asked for patience, and you gave us situations where we were forced to wait.

      We asked for love, and you gave us troubled people to help.

      We asked for justice, and you called us to be just and lead with integrity.

      Lord, we have received nothing that we asked for or wanted.

      And yet, we receive everything that we needed.

      For this we give thanks.

Remote Learning

As was mentioned in a recent Compass notification, remote learning for the children will include activities for the ‘PPT day’ that the children would normally have with their grade. Therefore, on this day, the remote learning will only have activities related to those subject areas (PE, Visual Arts and Music/Drama). The activities will continue to be be pushed out on Seesaw and Google Classroom.

Please note, that when your child has their ‘PPT day’ they do not need to submit work. Any work completed in this day will be acknowledged at upcoming class Zooms and when we are back to face-to-face learning. Also, on this day your child’s classroom teacher will be engaged in planning meetings so will not be able to respond to questions until the following day.

For the following two weeks, the timetable for the PPT days will be:

Wednesday 4 August – Year 2                  Thursday 5 August – Year 1

Friday 6 August – Kindergarten

Tuesday 10 August – Year 3                     Wednesday 11 August – Year 6

Thursday 12 August – Year 4                    Friday 13 August – Year 5

Assembly

This week we will be creating a pre-recorded Assembly for the children, which will be made available for them on Seesaw and Google Classroom. The Assembly will include the presentation of two awards, a "Remote Learning Engagement Award" and a "Remote Learning Achievement Award." It is hoped that the Assembly will become a weekly production while we are in remote learning.

Safety online

While the children are accessing their learning online, it is an important reminder for all parents to maintain awareness about helping them keep safe online. The eSafety Commissioner website (link here) has some excellent resources to help you with this. 

It is also a good time to have a conversation with your children about interacting with others respectfully when they are online. Most social media apps have an age minimum of 13 years; however, if you choose for your child to engage with others on these apps, it would be recommended that you go through any expectations you have of keeping safe and being respectful.

I continue to pray for all of you during this challenging time.

Paul Moroney

Principal

Book Week

Week 7 (23-27 August) this term is Book Week.  As we will still be in remote learning we will celebrate Book Week virtually this year!  The theme this year is Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds.  We are inviting children to dress up using this theme.  This is completely optional and we do not want this to place unnecessary stress on families, especially given that all the stores are closed at the moment.

A photo of your child, or children dressed up together, can be emailed to info_sjct@dow.catholic.edu.au strictly no later than Thursday 19 August.  Please use the words BOOK WEEK in the subject title of the email.

The photos will be collated into a video clip that will be shared with our school community and posted on our school Facebook page during Book Week.

We ask that you only email one photo of your child (either individually or as a family) and preferably in landscape, as that will look better in the video.

Happy Birthday to the following students and staff who are celebrating

their birthday this week 1st August - 7th August

We are excited to announce that Learning Labs will be at our Moss Vale campus in the Southern Highlands for the first time! The small pilot program will be running in week two during the September school holidays. This will be a face to face program under COVID guidelines. Our Wollongong Learning Labs program will be back in the January 2022 school holidays.

The University of Wollongong would like to invite your students to LEARNING LABS, an academic and creative arts enrichment holiday program.

We are targeting students from Years 3 to 6, who are excelling in their area of interest within their year group, and are motivated and curious learners.

Learning Labs is a program designed for students to participate in challenging, innovative and fun workshops during the school holidays. The workshops are presented by teachers or professionals with specialist training or a specific interest in gifted education.

Dates:   Early Learning Labs (Years 3 & 4) – Tuesday 28^th Sept. 2021

Early Learning Labs (Year 5 & 6) –  Wednesday 29^th Sept. 2021

Venue: Southern Highlands University of Wollongong Campus, (Kirkham St, Moss Vale)

Applications close: 18^th August 2021

Help us spread the word by passing this information on to your teachers, students and their parents via your school newsletters, website, apps such as Skoolbag or individual selection process. You can use the below links to download for your own communications:

• Learning Labs Moss Vale Program Brochure

• Learning Labs Moss Vale Workshop Descriptions

APPLICATION PROCESS

• Students can be encouraged to apply by their school, classroom teacher, subject specialist teachers from school or out-of-school or by their parents. If a school-based professional is identifying a potential student please supply them with a Teacher Nomination Letter
• Parents/Guardians visit our website and read the full list of workshops available by scrolling to the “Workshop Descriptions” section.
• Parents/Guardians (or school if parent/guardian is unable to) fill out the online application form.
• This is an academic and creative arts enrichment program designed for students who are motivated and passionate learners and performing excellently in their area of interest. First-time applicants are required to demonstrate their suitability for the program. One piece of supporting documentation is required (see 'Supporting Documentation' section on website). Please note that the Teacher Nomination Letter can be used as a supporting document.
• Learning Labs is registered as COVID-Safe and follows the guidelines set out by the NSW Government here.

Please know that workshops fill very quickly.

We will also have several sponsorship places available for students who identify as Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander or students experiencing financial difficulty. 

 For further information about workshops and the application process please visit our website, or contact the Learning Labs team via email at learning-labs@uow.edu.au or phone on (02) 4221 5557.

We thank you for your continued support of Learning Labs and we hope to share our passion for providing further opportunities to your students!

Learning Labs Team

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students) | Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

University of Wollongong

Southern Highlands Campus

NSW 2577 Australia

T +61 2 4221 5557

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I acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the Land I work on as the first people of this country.